Combination door hinge and stop



1970 w. J. HAGENDOORN ETAL 3,53

COMBINATION DOOR HINGE AND STOP Filed Aug. 29, 1968 INVENTORS wlLLEM I. HAGENDooRN KvSAMUEL 1. WOOLLEV THEN-l ATTQRIOEY United States Patent O 3,531,824 COMBINATION DOOR HINGE AND STOP Willem J. Hagendoorn and Samuel J. Woolley, Louisville,

Ky., assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Aug. 29, 1968, Ser. No. 756,199 Int. Cl. E0511 11/06 US. Cl. 16-191 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A combination hinge and stop mechanism for pivotally supporting a door on the face of the cabinet includes a hinge bracket carrying a pivot pin extending into one edge of the door and a plate having an opening therein adapted to fit over the pivot pin. The plate and bracket arm include cooperating means for limiting the door opening movement and the plate is secured to the door edge by a single fastening means adapted to shear and hence protect the remaining parts of the mechanism upon the application of an abnormal opening force to the door.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Many refrigerators of modern design are provided with hinges for supporting the door on the face of cabinet which include hinges pintles or pins extending into the top and bottom edges of the door inwardly from the hinge side thereof in order that all portions of the door will remain substantially within the planes of the side walls of the cabinet during opening and closing movement of the door. However in order to prevent the door from opening so far as it is desirable that stop means be provided for limiting the angle to which the door may be opened. Many stop mechanisms presently used in refrigerator cabinets, such as that disclosed in Pat. 3,125,- 390 Woolley, include a mechanical linkage arrangement which is exposed so that it tends to detract from the appearance of the cabinet. Other stop mechanisms such as that described in Pat. 2,959,315 Squire et al. are concealed within the door but form an integral part of the hinge mechanism so that if for any reason the stop becomes broken due to misuse or abuse thereof, most or all of the hinge mechanism has to be replaced.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to the provision of an improved refrigerator door stop mechanism which is of relatively low cost, which is easily installed and which is designed to prevent permanent damage to any major component of the door hinge structure or the top mechanism if an abnormal opening force is applied to the door.

More specifically there is provided by the present invention a door stop assembly which comprises a check or stop member having two spaced openings therein, one of which fits over the hinge pin and the other which is used to fasten the stop member to the adjacent edge of the door. Thus the door and door stop rotate about the axis of the hinge pin until the motion is checked by engagement of the projecting surface on the hinge bracket with the projection on the door stop. The stopping forces are transmitted to the attaching means, such as a single screw, attaching the door stop plate of member to the edge of the door and this fastening means is designed to shear up on the application of an abnormal opening force to the door. The shearing protects the remaining components of the stop and hinge mechanisms and the repair of the damage stop mechanism required only replacement of the fastening means.

3,531,824 Patented Oct. 6, 1970 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a partial side elevational view of a refrigerator incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of certain components of the hinge and stop mechanism of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of the door hinge mechanism illustrated in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 illustrating the opeartion of the stop mechanism upon the application of the abnormal opening force to the refrigerator door.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the accompanying drawing, there is shown the hinge area of a refrigerator cabinet 1 having a door 2 for closing the access opening to the cabinet. The door 2 is pivotally supported on the face of the cabinet 1 by a pair of pivot type hinges adjacent to the uper and lower edges of the door; only the lower hinge generally indicated by the numeral 3 being illustrated in the drawing. This hinge mechanism comprises a hinge bracket 4 including a vertical section 5 and a horizontal section 6. The vertical section 5 is suitably secured to the face of the cabinet by means of a pair of screws 7 while the horizontal section 6 extends beneath the lower edge of the door inwardly from the adjacent vertical hinge edge thereof. An upwardly extending hinge pin 10 extends through opening 11 in the door to provide swinging movement of the door about the axis of the hinge pin 10 inwardly from the vertical door edge. Preferably a thimble 12 is mounted within the opening 11 for receiving the pin 10.

By the construction thus far described, the door 2 is free to pivot about its axis represented by the hinge pin 10 between open and closed positions relative to the face of the cabinet.

In order to limit the opening movement of the door, there is provided a simple and inexpensive stop means in the form of a plate 14 overlying the lower edge of the door 7 or more specifically positioned between the horizontal arm 6 and the lower door edge 8 and this plate 14 includes a first opening 15 coextensive with the opening 11 in the door and adapted to fit loosely over the pin 10. The plate 14 also includes a second opening 16 spaced from the opening 15 for receiving a screw 17 which forms the sole means for securing the plate 14 to the door 2.

A downwardly extending flange or projection 19 at the front edge of the plate 14 and a shoulder 20 on the outer side edge of the horizontal bracket arm 6 provide cooperating stop means for limiting the opening travel of the door, This action is illustrated in FIG. 4 of the drawing in which it will be seen that when the door is open to an angle of about relative to the face of the cabinet 1, one edge of the flange 19 engages the shoulder 20 thereby limiting further normal opening movement of the door.

The spacing of the fastening means 17 from the axis of the hinge pin 10 and the shear strength of the fastening means are so selected that under all normal operations of the door 2, or in other words all conditions in which an abnormal opening force is not applied to the door 2, the fastening means 17 will resist normal securing shearing forces. However, in case the door is subjected to an abnormal opening force, the fastening means 17 will shear as illustrated in FIG. 4 of the drawing and the door will continue to move to a more fully open position illustrated by dotted lines while the remaining components of the hinge and stop mechanism will remain in their normal positions. In other words, no damage will be done to either the hinge structure or to the stop plate 14 and the entire mechanism can be quickly repaired merely by replacing the sheared fastening means 17 which is the lowest cost component of the structure.

It will also be noted that even when a shearing of the fastening means 17 has taken place the plate 14 will remain in substantially its normal position relative to the door since it is supported on the hinge pin 10.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the plate 14 also includes a longitudinally extending relative- 1y short flange 23 along the rear or inner edge thereof which wraps a slight distance around the inner side of the door 2. The purpose of this flange is merely to provide a longitudinal strengthening of the plate 14 and is not designed to contribute materially to the positioning of the plate 14 relative to the door 2. In other words this flange is sufliciently shallow so that in the event an abnormal opening force is applied tothe door, the lower door edge will ride upwardly over this flange. Also the plate 14 as illustrated includes a second opening 24 corresponding in size and relative position to the opening 15 but at the opposite end thereof. The purpose of this opening is to permit the same plate 14 to be used as a stop means for either a left or right end opening door.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A combination door hinge and stop for pivotally supporting a door on a cabinet comprising:

a hinge bracket adapted to be secured to the face of said cabinet and including a horizontally extending arm carrying a pivot pin projecting into a horizontal edge of said door,

a plate having an opening therein adapted to fit over said pin between said arm and said door edge, said plate and arm including cooperating stop means for limiting normal opening movement of said door,

said plate being secured to said horizontal edge of said door by a single fastening means extending through said plate and into said horizontal edge of said door at a point spaced from said pivot pin for normal pivotal movement of said door and plate about said pin, said fastening means being designed to shear upon application of an abnormal opening force to said door and thereby disengage said plate from said door to prevent damage to said hinge and stop means.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which said stop means comprises a projecting surface on said arm and a flange on said plate for engagement with said surface.

3. The combination of claim 2 in which said fastening means consists of a screw threaded into said door edge.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 983,015 1/19ll Anderson 16l51 2,811,740 11/1957 Belivacqua 16-191 2,067,559 l/l937 Bloom 16-191 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner D. L. TROUTMAN, Assistant Examiner 

